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“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”   ―   Henry David Thoreau I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes. I wanted the picture in my head to remain. I wanted the silence, the peace, the stillness to last. I wanted the moment to last forever. I had climbed the mountain. Now breathlessly I turned back to view the hills and valleys below me. I watched as the red kites soared above my head. Higher and higher they flew, soaring on a thermal. I was flying with them. I had surrendered  myself, mind, body and soul. The moment was beautiful. "Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life"  - Omar Khayyam

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything"  - Plato  That was my question to the man sat next to me. We had sat for a while enjoying each others company.  "Why does Music move us?" Strangely I did not expect an answer, despite this mans deep intellect. There would be no answer. I would later learn to expect no answers, no answers at all. On entering the Great Parlour of Wightwick Manor, would you too have have stopped suddenly in your tracks on hearing the sound of the grand piano playing ? Would you too have felt your whole body and limbs fall away, relax and feel yourself being cocooned within the safe warmth of the drifting  musical notes? Would you too have felt in your mind's eye, falling to your knees,  as if in prayer to kneel at the altar of the melodic soft cadence building to a crescendo to take you to a higher plane? Would you too have felt your inner soul vibrate, reson...

“Your memory is a monster; you forget—it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!”  ―  John Irving ,  A Prayer for Owen Meany Spring has arrived. Usually a time of great joy, as we emerge out of a cold bleak winter. Look out across the shoreline across at a distant forest to a new beginning, a new chapter. But that didn't happen this year. I am reminded of the colour yellow, the sunflowers that Van Gogh painted for his friend Paul Gaugins visit.  Yellow - A colour of hope. But the visit went terribly wrong. Such an event would have a profound effect on Van Goghs life and work. Today we marvel and rejoice at  Van Gogh's great legacy. Van Gogh at the time at that precise moment never felt that way. A story of two opposite halves.  A world of total Joy. A world of total Sadness. Every so often in life we p...

"Glory is Fleeting. Obscurity is forever" - Napoleon  I watched the solar eclipse on Friday. I was lucky I suppose. Did I feel honoured or even special to have witnessed this spectacular event? For a moment. No not really.  But it was tinged heavily with sadness. Why sad ? because it was fleeting. For 5 minutes I had escaped -  mind, soul and spirit running free from harm and violation. I wished it had lasted. But that would be madness. It couldn't possibly last! Everything must be fleeting. We live in a 24 hour disposable society. Nothing is built to last forever now. Nothing private. Nothing sacrosanct. We may use anything or anyone we choose. Take the best pieces and dispose, shattering into a million useless pieces. Rip out the zest of life and function, leave the bitterness to aid  corrosion and self destruction.  Just like the pile of  used, unwanted broken microwave ovens I added to at the recycling centre over the weekend. No sanctuary of th...

There they go .... The Bohemians Here they come..... Machine Man A heated debate has started. It has been brewing  for some time now. I really hope there will be answers. But a natural inclination to play Devils Advocate means the debate will propagate for a while, I fear.  The question itself  somewhat philosophical, somewhat profound. Can the Soul and Ego co-exist in perfect Symmetry? ...Thursday,  I eagerly looked out of the train window, Desperately scanning and searching  the meadows beside the picturesque River Kennet. I was looking for the herd of cows I had seen this morning. There they are! In almost the same formation I saw earlier. Nine sitting cows clustered together looking in one direction only; up at the one standing cow, who looks on at them. With a supreme air of authority, standing cow looks down at them.  Is standing cow there by divine authority or by intelligent design? Is this the same standing cow from this morning ? via ...